


Family Reunion

by Wonko



Category: Call the Midwife, Holby City
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Freestyle Mash, Gaskell is a lizard in a human suit, Mashed Potato Ficathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 11:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14567844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonko/pseuds/Wonko
Summary: A twelve hour shift on AAU sees John Gaskell's elderly uncle arrive on the ward.





	Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Because the actors who play Gaskell and Dr Turner are brothers.

Bernie pulled a scrub top over her head, contemplating the twelve hour shift stretching out in front of her. 7am to 7pm, and on a Saturday too. Who said consultants didn’t work at weekends? The only consolation was that Serena was on shift with her, which always made the hours fly past a bit more quickly. With any luck they’d get to do some interesting surgery, or at least see some unusual patients. Anything to avoid the dreaded paperwork, the main downside - in Bernie’s opinion - of taking up her old post as co-lead of AAU.

“Nearly ready, Major?” a familiar voice purred. Bernie smiled, unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them down, ready to replace them with a pair of scrub bottoms.

“You getting changed?” she asked. “Not like you.”

Serena shook her head, though Bernie wasn’t looking at her. “Just enjoying the show,” she said, letting her eyes rake over Bernie’s long legs and creamy thighs.

“Being extremely biased as usual,” Bernie replied, sliding the thin material of her sky blue AAU scrubs up her legs. She pulled the drawstring tight and tied a little bow to hold them up, before slipping her feet into her trainers and reaching up to wrangle her messy curls into a tiny ponytail.

Serena shook her head - it was mostly sweet, the way Bernie really didn’t understand her own appeal, and only occasionally totally frustrating. “Not biased,” she said. “I just have eyes.”

Bernie snorted but didn’t press the point. “You ready?” she said instead.

“Almost.”

Serena let a slow smile spread over her lips as she stepped forward, her chin tilted upwards in the universal signal for ‘kiss me’. Bernie obliged, resting her hands on Serena’s waist as she leaned down, letting Serena drape her arms around her neck and pull her close.

“I love you,” she murmured against Serena’s lips, before tilting her head to the side and deepening the kiss. They still had ten minutes before they were due on the ward and kissing Serena was most definitely a profitable way to spend that time.

* * * * *

The morning passed relatively quietly, with only the odd broken bone and even a minor RTC livening up the day’s paperwork. Just before three o’clock Donna knocked on their office door. “Sorry to disturb,” she said, holding out some admissions paperwork for Serena to look at. “Dr Patrick Turner, a hundred and four, if you can believe it. Took a fall at home and broke his ankle. The ED are worried there could be some vascular compromise, so they’ve sent him up to us.”

Serena took the proffered folder and scanned through the information. “A hundred and four and still living independently?” she murmured, impressed. 

“His wife’s come in with him; she’s a bit younger,” Donna explained. “Still in her 90s, mind. They’re a pretty tough old pair, but cheerful enough, considering.”

Serena closed the folder and stood up. “All right, I’d best go and examine him. He’s a doctor, you say?”

Donna nodded. “Former GP. Did some time in the RAMC during the war, too.”

Bernie’s ears pricked up at that. “Mind if I listen in on the exam?” she asked.

“Any excuse to get out of paperwork,” Serena said, but she was smiling. “All right then, Major. Come on.”

Dr Turner was in bay three, his wife sitting next to his bed holding his hand. “Dr Turner,” Serena said, smiling as they approached. “My name’s Serena Campbell, I’m a vascular surgeon and the co-clinical lead of this ward.”

The old man smiled benignly, as if the fall and the broken ankle were no more than interesting footnotes in his day. “Pleased to meet you,” he said.

“And I’m the other clinical lead. Bernie Wolfe. Trauma specialist.”

Dr Turner’s wife raised an eyebrow. “Is it as bad as all that? Or is our nephew pulling out all the stops?”

“Your nephew?” Serena looked to Donna who shrugged. “Does he work here?”

“This is certainly the building I see him standing in front of when he makes his speeches to the press,” Dr Turner replied, casting a quick inscrutable look towards his wife. “He’s my sister’s boy. Gaskell. John Gaskell.”

Comprehension dawned on Serena’s face. “Ah, I see,” she said. “No, I don’t think he knows you’re here actually. Would you like us to page him?”

“Oh no,” Mrs Turner said cheerfully. “Let’s put that off as long as we can, shall we?” She held out her hand for them both to shake. “Please call me Shelagh, won’t you? And this is Patrick. He’s not been Dr Turner since the early 80s.”

Serena smiled. “Very well. So, Patrick: would you like to tell me how you came by this injury?”

“Not very exciting I’m afraid,” he said. “Tripped over one of the great-grandchildren’s toys.”

Serena examined the ankle gently, trying to avoid causing too much pain. “Your foot’s a little cold,” she began. Shelagh chuckled lightly.

“Check the other one to compare,” she said. “He’s always had terrible circulation. Feet like blocks of ice.”

Serena dutifully checked the other foot and found that Shelagh was quite right - the uninjured side was just as cold as the other. “I see what you mean.”

“Imagine sleeping next to those for the last sixty years,” Shelagh said, with a fond laugh in her voice.

“Oh, I think I can imagine it,” Serena said with a quick glance at Bernie. Her partner was built for the desert, always seeming to run a little colder than most. A perfect counterpoint to Serena’s warmth.

Bernie’s lips twitched but she chose to say nothing, instead turning her attention to the patient. “Donna says you served in the RAMC once upon a time - I’m a twenty-five year veteran.”

Patrick held out his hand for her to shake. “Wolfe, did you say your name was?” he asked. “Not Berenice Wolfe?”

Bernie blinked. “Yes,” she said, surprised. “You’ve heard of me?”

“I like to keep up with certain journals,” he explained. “I can’t believe John never told me he was working with one of the best trauma surgeons in the world!”

Bernie blushed and Serena’s lips quirked, thinking it wasn’t all that surprising. John Gaskell paid lip service to other people’s talents but only as far as they would serve his own ends. He’d tried to get Bernie working on his trial when she’d first come back from Nairobi. He’d made all the right noises about her expertise being ideal for the trauma patients he’d begun to select to be his new participants, but something about the proposal had smelled fishy to Bernie. “Go with your gut,” Serena had said, after Bernie had described her misgivings for the dozenth time.

“What do you think of him? Gaskell?” Bernie had asked. “You know him better than I do.”

Serena had thought about it for a few moments before settling on a conclusion. “I think he’s a snake,” she’d said.

And that had decided that.

“Well, I don’t think there’s any vascular compromise here,” Serena said, finishing the exam. “We’ll run a few tests, but we should have you home a bit later today, all being well.” She ordered the usual tests from Donna. “You coming, Ms Wolfe?”

“Oh, do let her stay for a bit,” Patrick said. “I’d love to have a chat about her army days.”

Bernie shot Serena a hopeful little look, the kind that Serena could never resist. “By all means,” she said. “But you’ll owe me, Ms Wolfe.”

“I’ll have to figure out some way to make it up to you, Ms Campbell.”

Serena chuckled as she headed back to the office, thinking of all the ways Bernie could potentially manage to repay that favour. She killed a little time compiling a top ten list, before reluctantly returning to her paperwork. She took a moment to send a quick email to Professor Gaskell to let him know his uncle had been admitted - snake or not, he was the director of surgery and could make her life a misery if he felt like it. A bit of professional courtesy wouldn’t go amiss.

A couple of hours passed without incident. When Donna returned with Patrick Turner’s test results she was surprised to see that Bernie was still by his bedside, chatting and laughing away, like she was talking to a long lost grandfather. 

When she emerged from her office to go and deliver the news that all the tests were normal and that they could set the bone and get the old man on his way, she fell into step beside Shelagh who was carrying a couple of paper cups of tea, obviously procured from the nearest machine.

“Let me help you with that,” Serena said, taking one of the cups, her mind filling with visions of tripping nonagenarians and third degree burns.

“Thank you,” Shelagh said, then nodded towards her husband and Bernie. “They’re getting on like a house on fire.”

Serena smiled fondly, her eyes softening as she met Bernie’s across the ward. “They certainly are.”

“Are you girls married?” Shelagh asked politely. “That’s the modern thing to do these days, isn’t it? I was at a lesbian wedding a few years ago. They’d been together since the 60s, can you imagine?”

Serena blinked, and just managed to avoid dropping the tea in surprise. “Uhm...no. I mean, not that I wouldn’t want to…” She trailed off, slightly flustered. “What makes you think...that is to say, how did you know we were…”

Shelagh patted her arm with her free hand. “I’ve been in love with that man for sixty years - I know what it looks like.”

Serena felt her face grow warm, but it wasn’t in embarrassment. She looked at Bernie again, her eyes travelling over the planes of her face, taking in all the lines and freckles she’d memorised over months of FaceTime conversations. They’d been through so much in their brief time together - things that would have destroyed other relationships. Yet here they were, stronger than ever. She couldn’t imagine anything that would separate them now. 

She’d sworn after Edward that she’d never remarry. Well...no, actually, she thought. She’d sworn she’d never marry another  _ man. _ At the time that had meant the same thing, but life had had other plans for her. Her chest flushed with warmth as she considered the question. Would Bernie want to? Who did the asking in these situations?

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of the lift doors sliding open. Professor John Gaskell strode onto the ward, his eyes finding Serena almost instantly. “Ms Campbell,” he said, then looked at the elderly woman by her side. “Auntie Shelagh.” His face split in a sickly grin. “How are you?”

Serena thought she could detect a barely perceptible roll of the old woman’s eyes. “Tickety-boo, thank you John,” she said. “I believe Ms Campbell was just going to deliver Patrick’s test results.”

“That’s right,” Serena said, remembering the iPad in her hand at last. “Care to join me, Professor?”

She didn’t wait for a reply as she fell into step beside Shelagh and made her way over to Patrick’s bedside. She stood beside Bernie, her hip resting gently against her partner’s arm. “It’s good news,” she said, smiling at Patrick and Shelagh. “The tests show nothing sinister, so we’ll be able to get you into a cast and out of here today.”

Patrick and Shelagh’s quiet celebrations were interrupted by Gaskell. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Serena bristled slightly. “Would you like to see the test results yourself?”

He waved her away. “I’m sure the tests were very comprehensive, Ms Campbell.” He looked at his uncle. “Have you given any more thought to what I said last month? Cherry Tree is a very good facility. You’d get to stay together, of course.”

Bernie looked from uncle to nephew and back again. “You don’t need to be in a home,” she said, slightly aghast.

“This is a family matter, Ms Wolfe,” Gaskell began to say, but Patrick waved his hand in the air to quiet him.

“Oh, do shut up John,” he said. “I may be old but I’m not demented and I’m not incapable. Accidents can happen to anyone.”

Gaskell tried his sickly smile again. “But you’ll be in a cast for weeks now, maybe months. Think of Auntie Shelagh.”

Shelagh scoffed. “Don’t bring me into it,” she said. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of him. And besides, we’ve got Timothy and Angela and Edward, and their children too. We won’t be short of help.” She looked at Serena and cocked her head towards Gaskell. “It’s hard to take him seriously,” she confided, in a louder voice than she perhaps meant. “He sucked his thumb until he was fifteen you know.”

Gaskell’s face flushed hotly. Patrick grinned as he turned back to Bernie. “Has he tried to get you involved in one of his dodgy trials yet?” he asked. “I’d steer clear if I were you. It’s funny how often they go wrong and yet the blame seems to fall on some piece of cannon fodder.”

Bernie nodded shrewdly and winked. “No fear,” she said. “I already knocked him back.”

“Very wise.”

The sound of slowly grinding teeth made them all look round. Gaskell’s jaw was tight and a vein was throbbing in his temple. “Right,” he managed to spit out. “I can see I’m not needed here.” He glanced at his aunt and uncle. “I’ll see you at Tim’s birthday party next month.”

Shelagh waved cheerfully at his departing back. “Probably off to suck his thumb,” she said. Serena wouldn’t have sworn she  _ intended  _ her voice to carry across the ward. But it did anyway.

* * * * * 

Bernie pulled the scrub top over her head, rolling her shoulders and going over the shift she’d just completed in her mind. “Interesting couple,” she said, knowing Serena was behind her, enjoying the show as she said. “They invited me to go and visit them some time. I think I will.”

“Mmm,” Serena agreed absently. She paused for a moment, watching Bernie exchanging scrubs for street clothes, pulling the tie from her hair, running her fingers through her curls. “Shelagh asked me if we were married,” she said softly.

Bernie stopped moving, halfway through rooting through her locker for something. “Oh?” she said. “Uhm…”

“Would you want to be?” Serena interrupted. She hadn’t thought of the idea before today, and was surprised by the shy hope that had risen up in her chest. If Bernie didn’t want it, if she’d had her fill of marriage after Marcus...well, it wouldn’t be the end of them, of course. They didn’t  _ need _ the ceremony, the ring, the validation. Not really.

But if she did want it…

Bernie turned slowly and walked towards her. Serena’s heart thudded painfully in her chest. Bernie was so beautiful, so sweet, so lovely. She had no idea how she’d been so lucky.

“Serena,” she said, and Serena belatedly realised she had something in her hand. “I...I’ve had this in my locker for weeks. It was my mother’s. I...I wasn’t sure how you’d...if you’d…”

Serena cut her off with a gentle kiss, tears pricking behind her eyes, her heart light. “Yes,” she whispered against Bernie’s lips, feeling her partner’s smile.

“Yes?” Bernie’s voice was soft and tremulous.

Serena nodded. “Yes,” she said firmly.

Shaking slightly, Bernie opened the box and slid the ring onto the fourth finger of Serena’s left hand. It was a simple enough ring: gold, with an unfussy setting of rubies and diamonds. Serena held it up to the light, examining it from all angles. “It fits perfectly.”

Bernie shrugged. “I already had it resized.”

Serena smiled. “You’re perfect,” she murmured, then met her partner’s eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Bernie leaned forward and kissed her, soft and sweet.

They rested with their foreheads together for a long moment, just revelling in their happiness. “So,” Serena said at last. “Gaskell sucked his thumb until he was fifteen, eh?”

Bernie laughed. “Oh, I’m hoping Patrick and Shelagh have a few more stories like that.” Her eyes twinkled. “Why do you think I’m going to visit them?

Serena laughed. “Naughty,” she said, then lowered her voice to a rich husk. “Why don’t you take me home and show me how much naughtier you can be?”

Bernie didn’t need to be asked twice.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the lesbian wedding Shelagh went to was Patsy and Delia :-)


End file.
